


I saw you...

by Dabberdees



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, Head Injury, Light Angst, The Good Doctor reference and spoilers, Yaz is Graham's granddaughter and no one can change my mind, fanzine prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 18:09:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18899911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dabberdees/pseuds/Dabberdees
Summary: Just a little scene change from the Doctor Who book 'The Good Doctor' for the newest Thirteenfanzine prompt on tumblr. "How are you not dead?"Graham comes to a conclusion about why Yaz is missing. (I'm trying to not spoil the book in the summary)





	I saw you...

“So needless.” the Doctor says, her voice low as she kneels next to Mykados’ lifeless corpse, hand placed against the hateful man’s neck. “He didn’t have to do that.”

Graham, on the other hand, stares down at it in genuine dislike. That’s the man that strapped him to a chair, threatened torture upon him and nearly went through with it, made the Doctor fight in an arena and… and possibly killed Yaz… he’s not sure...

He thought Yaz and the rebels died when the mine was blown up, but he doesn’t know now. The rebels were meant to be dead, but they attacked? Or someone did anyway; it was chaos in the arena. So maybe Yaz is still alive? He has to hope at least, but if she were, she would be here, wouldn’t she, possibly? The head wound he received when they pulled him, and Mykados from that blasted arena and back to the temple makes it’s hard to focus and the weight of the days and nights event has taken ahold of him now.

He aches, the gash above his left eyes throbs, his wrists are red raw and marred from the straps and cuffs that he struggled and pulled against during his imprisonment. He’s too old for this, too old to be manhandled from place to place, vehicle to vehicle… too old to be nearly tortured, he's a damn bus driver, since when was torture on the cards? But at least he has his life, unlike others. Unlike Yaz. That’s if she’s even dead… he needs to hope, that’s what the Doc says, right? Hope is always… _something_ … if only he could just focus.

His eyes land on Mykados again and he feels an anger bubble beneath the surface of his tired body. “He deserved it... Doc, for what... he did here… and he got off lightly.” Graham mumbles, slumping back against the wall now. He closes his eyes, and relaxes at the minor comfort that brings when it blocks out the light from the temple… but his thoughts drift to Yaz’ parents, how can he tell them that their daughter is never coming back? Cause if she was alive, she would be here… but she isn’t, so she must be dead, he thinks, and the weight of that sits within him like a stone. He watched her die, helpless to help… and it was utterly pointless. She's technically not his or... was his granddaughter, but she might've well been it, he cares for her just as much as he does Ryan and... she's gone.

The Doctor turns to him, eyes checking over him and widening when she truly sees the state he’s in. “You alright, Graham?” The tone in her voice is caring, and he feels her hands on the side of his head, checking the wound above his eye. “You’ll have a concussion from that.” She lightly moves his head, and he allows her to. “We need to get you checked out… and cleaned up, you’re covered in debris and blood.” Graham feels a hand on his wrist now. “And we’ll need to treat these; they’ll get infected.”

Graham opens his eyes again and squints them, trying to focus on the Doctor through the fogginess of thought. “Probably… but I’m fine… at least... I’m alive and not dead… not like she is.”

“What are you talking about?” The caring tone in the Doctor’s voice turns to confusion. “Who isn’t alive, Graham?”

Graham leans his head back against the wall and frowns, well tries to anyway, at the Doctor… how can she ask him who isn’t alive? “You know… you were… you saw-”

“Jaya!” A voice called out within the temple, and Graham trails off, turning his head reluctantly to see who the owner of it is. A Loba... he doesn’t recognise stands within the broken doorway, his wild eyes flicking across everyone in the temple and landing on a young girl that Graham assumes must be this Jaya.

At least someone didn’t lose every-- His thoughts disappear, and a wave of clarity hits him like a tonne of bricks when he catches sight of the next person to enter, her hair a mess, her dark skin covered in dust and her jeans ripped… but alive, she’s alive, and his heart thumps in his chest at seeing her.

“Yaz!” Graham calls out, now pulling his head and wrists free from the Doctor’s hands… he vaguely thinks he hears her call after him, but he doesn’t stop, closing the distance between them quickly. His legs are protesting, head protes-… well, his entire body is at the sudden movement, but he doesn’t care as he grabs her into a hug, her eyes surprised at the unexpected move. “Yaz.” He mutters through their hug. “You’re alive… at least I hope you are… I’m not sure what is real-”

“Graham?” He hears her ask, but he doesn’t let her go. His need to know that she’s alive and not dead too high at the moment as he holds onto her tightly. “Graham… I need to breathe.” She says, with slight amusement tinging her voice.

Graham nods, the wound in his head rearing its head at that but he releases her, reluctantly, stepping back with one hand, still touching her arm for confirmation.

He stares at her, eyes entirely focused now. “ _How are you not dead?!_ ” He blurts out, causing Yaz to look at him in confusion. “I saw you die, I saw the mine... collapse... when that bastard blew it up… you were in there?”

“No, Graham, I wasn’t, we were warned of what Mykados was gonna do, and we all got out,” Yaz explains to him. “It was a ruse to buy us time.”

The panic and the relief all bleeds into one with the stress of the entire day. It causes his emotions to get the better of him. “I saw you die Yaz; I feared the worst… that I would have to tell your-.” And Graham feels the lump grow in his throat, as his tears escape. “Parents that you weren’t coming back.”

“Hey Graham, I’m alive… I’m not dead, the rebels weren’t in the mine when it blew up, I’m here.” comforts Yaz, her hand moving and holding onto his arm, reassuring him that she is in fact, alive. "I'm sorry you thought I died." Graham closes his eyes and wavers on his feet, the exhaustion weighing heavily now. He misses her shocked gaze upon him when she spots the injury and blood. “You’re injured... and covered in blood.”

“It’s not mine, well... most… isn’t-” Graham says, stumbling over his words, his hand gesturing in the air. “I’m fine.”

“Most isn't?” says Yaz her eyes full of concern. “Graham, you’re not fine, you really aren't, and you shouldn’t even be standing with a head injury like that.”

“That’s not... important,” Graham slurs out. “-You’re alive, that’s what’s important.”

She offers him a weak smile and moves to support his sagging body now. “Graham, you’re injured, and you look like you’re about to collapse, come on, you need to see a doctor.”

“As long as it ain’t a Good Doctor, I don’t care... “Graham murmurs, allowing Yaz to give him a hand over to a bench and he falls down in it.

“A joke at this time, Graham?”

He shrugs at her, before slumping and lying down on the bench. He blinks up at her, her face and now that of the Doctor's and Ryan's as well, swimming and blurring in his vision. “You’re alive… that’s all that matters.” The last thing he sees before blissful unconsciousness hits him is Yaz staring down at him… and then he slips away into sleep knowing that she’s alive and safe and...not dead.

**Author's Note:**

> Graham never knew until the very end that Yaz was alive. He only found out when she entered the temple so I just wanted to write a short bit where he was convinced she was dead due to the head injury he received earlier on in the book.


End file.
